Dive Log, April 10th, 2005

Today, we did a trip for charity. We auctioned off a gift certificate
which was redeemed for a day of diving and fishing. We had a great
group on board made up of a few locals and a couple of their friends
from Idaho. The goal of the day was to have fun. No expectations, just
whatever happens, happens. It's so nice to be amongst people who
understand the meaning of "WILD life" and that everything you encounter
is a gift.

Give a gift, receive a gift. Today, we received MANY wonderful gifts!

We began the day with a dive at Manta Ray Bay. We showed our local
friends where to find the Green Hawaiian Lionfish and the Scarlet Lady
Cleaner Shrimp. The shrimp were really into it today and gave many of
us a thorough and much needed teeth cleaning. An eagle ray was parked
on the sand getting his grooming done by a couple of cleaner wrasses.
He was super mellow and so were we. We were able to hang out right next
to it for a long time. Tara and I noticed that it was wiggling its
snout around. Our masks flooded as we giggled underwater.

After this satisfying dive we headed off shore to see what would happen
next. We cranked up the tunes, cracked open the beers, put out a spread
of food for ourselves and toasted to the beautiful day. It was a love
fest. We trolled around for probably 2 hours and then hooked up our
first fish. It was a beauty of a Mahi Mahi. It jumped and shook and
wriggled and fought. It was the angler, Idaho Dave's fifth try at
fishing in Kona... and his lucky day. He expertly reeled it in with
Chad coaching, Mike on the gaff, Jeff taking care of the other lines
and Nikki on the helm. Everyone cheered in appreciation as the group
effort paid off we bagged our latest gift from the sea.

We decided that if we were lucky enough to hook up again, Kona Dave
would be our next angler, as it was his first fishing trip ever. As
fate would have it, he would get his try at reeling in a big one. The
fish came up, hit one lure, swam to the other side hit another lure and
was hooked. The line screamed as it took off. Then, another line went
off at the same time. We had ourselves a double hookup! Tara jumped on
the second one and started to fight it from the rod holder. Chad was
coaching the virgin, Dave in the chair, Nikki headed for the helm and
Mike got on the other lines so we wouldn't get tangled. Jeff jumped on
gaffing duty and Karenza put herself in charge of the camera. This
fight was long and hard. We weren't sure what we had, but they were
fighting like either marlin or big tuna. After about half an hour we
got to see the first fish, a beautiful, fat yellowfin tuna. Jeff gaffed
it on the first try and hoisted it into the boat. We estimated it to
weigh around 60 lbs. Tara then moved to the chair and settled into her
fight. Her's would turn out to be the biggest fish of the day. She hung
in there for the fight and it paid off as another beauty of an Ahi
(yellowfin tuna) joined us on the boat.

Upon weighing the fish at the end of the day, the Ahi were 80 lbs and
85 lbs respectively. The Mahi Mahi weighed in at 25 lbs. We all pitched
in cleaning the boat and then went out to continue reveling in our
amazing luck with more celebratory beers.

Mahalo Kanaloa, god of the ocean and all the creatures in it, for all
of our wonderful gifts.